Dave Kusek is worried about the future of music. So the former vice president at Berklee College of Music and CEO of Berkleemusic, the college’s online education program, has launched an online education platform called New Artist Model.

Kusek says he built the platform to help build a next generation of independent artists. “We as an industry need new pathways for people to develop themselves or be developed as part of a collective. You don’t have a label system working as it did. You don’t have a publishing system working as it did.”

The future of the music business depends on a more vibrant independent class of musicians, says Kusek. “Unless we find ways for new artists to break and reach an audience, the business could stall. That would be horrible.”

New Artist Model is an eight-week program targets performers, recording artists, songwriters, producers and managers. The courses cover topics such as licensing, publishing, e-commerce, concerts, promotion and networking. The first classes begin February 17th.

One key feature is the Career Map. Artists fill out a questionnaire that helps them formulate a plan for recordings, songwriting, performance, marketing strategy, building a team and financing and budgeting the business. “There’s no one to help develop yourself in the classic sense,” explains Kuesek. “No A&R people to take risks on little bands. You’ve got to know more about your career and what the possibilities are.”

Kusek left Berklee in 2012 after building Berkleemusic.com into a leading online source of music education. Just as MOOCs make higher education accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, New Artist Model strives to open music education to a larger audience. Kusek says he has known many people that wanted a career in music but couldn’t afford a traditional music business program.

The pricing is one of the most important elements of the New Artist Platform program. Students have two options. The “Essential Class” costs $297 and allows students to learn at their own pace — a practical option for a musician always on the road. The $997 “Master Class” is a more traditional online education program with group discussions and class assignments. Students of both programs are offered a seven-day money-back guarantee. In comparison, the lowest price for a single course at Berkleemusic.com is $1,200.

Online learning is currently reshaping education. The rise of massive open online courses, known by the acronym MOOCs, has opened up higher education to people around the world. Venture-funded startups such as Coursera and Udacity are partnering with universities to experiment with MOOC programs. Although MOOCs have yet to deliver on their promise — early experiments with Coursera and Udacity have failed — the trend toward accessible, affordable online education is undeniable. Nevertheless, President Obama has included affordable, online education programs such as MOOCs in his plan to make college more affordable and provide opportunity to the middle class.

Kusek wants New Artist Model to help build music’s middle class. Some students may be attracted to the success of independent duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, but Kusek knows most artists won’t reach that level. Instead he points to the example of MC Lars, an American rapper and producer that has built a stable career and following over the last ten years. He says MC Lars represents the middle-class lifestyle available to independent musicians able to direct their own careers. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

I am very happy to announce today the availability of a new, affordable, online music business course entitled the New Artist Model. It’s been called “the essential online course for independent musicians” who are trying to make a successful career in the new music industry. Here is a sneak preview:

The New Artist Model is a Success Framework for independent musicians, performers and songwriters developed by Dave Kusek. We teach you how to create a musician business around yourself and how to develop multiple income streams. With this framework, you will gain focus and knowledge that can guide you into the life of music you deserve. Retain your creative freedom and take control of your career. With the right plan you can generate more revenue and expand your audience.

This course is based on teaching tens of thousands of musicians from around the world at Berklee College of Music and Berkleemusic.com and realizing that high-quality online education does not have to be expensive. Why pay tens of thousands of dollars or more for a certificate or degree program from Full Sail or elsewhere, when you can get effective and practical instruction that addresses opportunities in the new economy at a fraction of the cost? This is the new way, the New Artist Model.

As we reach the end of the year, we all look forward to a new year and new resolutions for a better career and better self. But why not get started now and hit the new year running? Next year, I know many musicians out there who will be working towards goals to play more, write more, and be more on top of social media. Set the ground work now for artistic efficiency!

This guide, by Michael Shoup, was originally posted on Hypebot. It really sets out some great, actionable guidelines.

RULE 1: Minimize

Chances are, if you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, you’re doing too much. You have a Twitter, Facebook, 4Square, Tumblr account, and maybe more. You may not even realize it, but you find yourself wishing you’d start that business, try for that dream job, or make that record… and you don’t because of “obligations” or “responsibilities”, or worse yet, simple “lack of time.” I’m with you. I’ve been there. Unfortunately for us as humans, this doesn’t get easier as we grow older and add families or children to the mix, so it’s best that we learn how to handle it now. No more excuses. It’s time to trim the fat.

While this may not be the exact first step for everyone, I believe minimalism is key. I challenge you to examine what you do on a day to day basis, and ask yourself (a) do you actually like doing those activities and (b) what would happen if you just STOPPED doing part of it. What are the consequences? What is the worst-case scenario that could happen if you just dropped that activity today? What would the benefits be? What if you only used one social network and built your audience there? Would you suddenly find yourself with blocks of time available to dedicate to your passion or audience? I certainly did.

RULE 2: Delegate

While the term “independent” in the music industry generally refers to running your own career, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do it alone. This is one part of the puzzle that I find many creatives miss. I know I certainly did. The beauty of being an “independent” artist is that you’re suddenly the boss of your own career; the CEO and founder of your music, and it’s your job to build a team under you.

Our society, and partially our school system, has ingrained in us that busy is better; that multi-tasking is a necessity, and that Facebook deserves your constant attention. It doesn’t. What does deserve your attention are your goal-driven, well-defined priorities. It’s time to separate yourself from the noise.

This is the rule where I see most creatives lose focus. I personally suffer from the “do-it-all-now!” syndrome, so I can relate, but doing what deserves your attention at the right time creates momentum, and our goal is to feed that energy.

I start this process by taking a pen and paper and writing down all of the tasks that I need to do [Actually, I usually do this starting at rule one and make columns for “minimize”, “delegate” and “prioritize”]. Once I have my list, I’ll give each task a weight based on its urgency, my desire to see it to completion, or the length of time it’s been on the list [longer gets higher priority].

Now, the magic comes in making these priorities actionable. For each item with the top priority rating, I break it down into small steps.

RULE 4: Automate

By running myself through this “5 Rules” process numerous times, I began to notice systems develop each time a similar priority was identified. Perhaps all co-writing appointments could be setup in the same 4 steps. Maybe all my reoccurring payments could be pooled to one credit card that I auto-pay once a month? Could all my booking emails be funneled to an auto-responder that followed up for me and sent a press release? As these systems began to develop, I would ask myself one simple question: Does automating this task make it too impersonal? If the answer was no, I’d set the system in place.

RULE 5: Create!

This is it, folks. This is what you’ve saved up so much time and energy to do. In my personal opinion, this should always be priority and rule #1, even if you do use the first 4 rules to clean out everything else. This is what drives and motivates you. As an artist or content creator, this is what will actually make or break you in the end. This is what you should be funneling the vast majority of your time and effort into as it feeds your authentic ability to connect and engage your audience.

*BONUS ROUND: Take Big Calculated Risks

This last piece I include as a small tidbit to chew on.

At least once a month, I challenge myself to take a big risk with my career; to do something that scares me or toss a Hail Mary with no real assurance that anything will come of it. Though sometimes these amount to nothing, they’ve also accounted for some of my greatest successes and built relationships that I would’ve never dreamed possible.

What are your goals for the coming year? How will you start working towards those goals NOW?

Recently, there has been a lot of press coverage and discussion around MOOCs. Are they educationally sound? How much will students benefit from a massively online course or will they simply be lost in the crowd? How do employers and schools view MOOCs in terms of accreditation and credentialing? What are the potential revenue models for educational institutions and instructors wishing to monetize their efforts?

However, one aspect of MOOCs has received very little attention or discussion and that is the use of copyrighted materials in this online learning environment, one that could reach tens of thousands of students. What is the nature of the kind and quality of materials that can be presented in a MOOC? Can copyrighted material be used on some limited basis by educational institutions? If not, does the MOOC provider need to secure permission for each item used? What are the potential costs of licensing copyrighted material for use in MOOCs?

In the U.S., the TEACH Act provides an umbrella of protection and access beyond fair use for accredited classrooms and learning institutions, allowing the use and presentation of copyrighted materials by non-profit educational institutions under specific conditions. Although the TEACH Act was amended to take distance learning into account back in 2002, it does not provide MOOCs with the ability to use copyrighted materials without being properly licensed. Is this a competitive limitation of the open MOOC format?

For example, when teaching an open course on archeology, or music or art or history, copyrighted images, maps, diagrams, recordings and movies cannot be included as part of the student experience and curriculum without permission. This is not true in the traditional classroom environment because of the TEACH Act. If these examples of culture or private works are not readily available to students to study, how effective will the open online courses be?Without easy and affordable access to copyrights, just how useful, comprehensive and competitive are MOOCs?

To qualify for TEACH Act protection, distance learning institutions must be accredited and non-profit, operating with some kind of “walled garden” around the students. The use of the copyrights must be limited to a specific number of students in a specific class for a specific time, it must be used in a live or asynchronous class session, and it must be part of mediated instructional activities. This eliminates most MOOCs from consideration right from the starting gate.

Obviously, judging from the popularity of MOOCs, there are ways to present open online courses that don’t rely heavily on the use of third-party copyrights.nProviding links to materials is perhaps the most straightforward option, though teachers risk losing the attention of students and the control of the overall learning experience. Coursera recommends that its teachers either create their own content or obtain licenses, both of which can be time-consuming and costly tasks. Teachers can also draw from open content like works in the public domain and works protected by Creative Commons licenses. Perhaps the riskiest approach is to rely on the fair use defense, but with tens of thousands of students viewing the content, that shield is not very strong. Some MOOC teachers have gotten away with fair use for a short quote or excerpt from a film, but, fair use is a finicky animal – don’t count on it working out this way in most situations.

So lets look more closely at the recommendation that teachers utilize their own content as part of the overall teaching and learning experience in a MOOC. Can this create a competitive advantage for those who own or control licenses to proprietary content that they can leverage into a teaching environment? For example, could film studios, music publishers, graphic artists, designers, architects, photographers and other creative professionals begin to create and offer MOOCs that no one else can offer? How about corporations exploring science or medicine developing proprietary algorithms, formula and trade secrets. Can new online schools be formed by content owners that leverage their copyrighted content and provide a very unique experience for students?

Yes they can – and we will see new schools take shape as copyright owners realize the leverage and value potential that they have. I suspect that we will see more movement in this area as MOOCs evolve and new business models emerge. Wouldn’t it be odd if the open environment being pioneered by MOOCs actually created a proprietary advantage for copyright owners as educators?

A Facebook business or band page is different from a personal page, and therefore requires a different approach. Once you get a hang of it, it can be a great way to create a more meaningful relationship with your fans and customers. Facebook allows you to talk to them directly, offer Facebook-exclusive promotions, and get instant feedback, just to name a few.

Check out this infographic with lots of tips to make your Facebook page more successful.

Musicians are smart, creative, and innovative thinkers despite what popular culture would have you believe. Too often, when we think of musicians, images from Spinal Tap come to mind, but this is not usually the case. Being a musician requires a mix of extreme creativity and logic, collaboration, listening and multi-tasking skills, and complete dedication – a mix that not many professions require.

Many entrepreneurs would do well to take up an instrument, as many of these skills are also required in business. Here’s a list of 11 leadership lessons to be learned from musicians:

1. Playing it safe gets you tossed off the stage. Some executives would say that in today’s turbulent economy, takings risks isn’t wise. If you don’t take risks you’ll never excel. Playing it safe all the time becomes the most dangerous move of all.

2. There are no do-overs in live performances. For every hour in a “performance” setting, you should spend five hours practicing. Athletes do this, musicians do this–muscle memory is no different in the board room, in front of a new client, or with your team. So why aren’t you doing this?

3. Listening to those around you is three times more important than what you play yourself. If you’re the one talking all the time, you’re not learning anything. Listen, absorb what you hear, and use the information to make a conscious choice about whatever you’re facing.

4. There’s a time to stand out as a soloist and a time to support others and make them shine. You rocked a project–nicely done. Praise is well-deserved. However, as a leader, it’s more likely the case that your team members rocked a project, together. Susie was on top of her game with the slide deck? Tell her–and tell the client. Johnny couldn’t have articulated the challenge to the press any more astutely? Refer back to his commentary as a stellar example. When you can share the wealth, everyone wins.

Startup accelerators have gone “niche” over the last year. Instead of simply copy and pasting the Y Combinator model ad nauseam, incubators have started to seep into verticals, tailoring their programs to particular industries. Education technology has been enjoying more attention from entrepreneurs and investors of late, and following suit, a new generation of EdTech accelerators have begun to pop up across the country. Even some of the oldest names in educational publishing, like Kaplan and Pearson, have been hopping on the bandwagon. Earlier this year, Boston became the latest city to get its own dedicated EdTech accelerator with the launch of LearnLaunchX, founded by the organizers of an education conference that goes by the same name (without the “X”). Read more about this here. Here is a brief introduction to the first eight startups to join LearnLaunch. More at LearnLaunchX’s website here. Let us know what you think.

Listen Edition: Founded by public radio reporter Monica Brady-Myerov, Listen Edition curates public radio stories and builds custom lesson plans and activities for the classroom. Lesson plans, for example, include class activities, homework, links to additional resources and assessment evidence. The goal is to foster critical thinking and listening skills, while providing fun, entertaining content that align with the Common Core.

Createbiz: An online business school and professional development network for the “new creative economy.” Createbiz delivers affordable and practical, instructor-led online courses and programs designed for the lifestyle of the mobile creative professional. The startup proposes to “teach creative entrepreneurs from small and medium businesses how to get new customers, increase cash flow and generate more success in business.” Createbiz was ounded by Dave Kusek, former CEO of the successful online music school Berkleemusic.com.

Gradeable: Developed by a team from MIT and Harvard, Gradeable is an assessment and feedback tool that helps teachers give students smarter, faster and reduces their workload. It uses optical character recognition to handle grading for paper-based assessments, whether that be in written answer or multiple choice formats and includes simple, easy-to-use reporting.

Empow Learning: Transformative experiences that empower young learners to create and build using technology, to discover their superpowers, and to make lasting contributions to their own futures and to the world around them. Empow is a successful STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) afterschool and summer program engaging kids in grades 4-10, which is poised to grow to new communities and regions.

Countdown: A planning tool for creating Common Core-aligned instruction that allows teachers and districts to map standards by day across the school year, link curricular resources, share calendars, manage changes and create a record of what is taught. Countdown improves pacing, increases the effectiveness of co-teaching and supports standards-based teaching and learning.

Intellify Learning: Developed by LearnLaunchX entrepreneur-in-residence Chris Vento, former CTO of Blackboard, WebCT and Cengage, these guys are still in stealth mode. So, for now, all we know is that Intellify wants to “provide a standards-based instrumentation framework for online course developers and schools, curriculum and learning designers, and ed tech application developers” … and that its “cloud-delivered data and analytics” aim to help schools refine online learning experiences.

Discovering music on your own requires that you listen to a song for a period of time to see if you like it. Sure, if one of your friends tells you about a track you may “discover” it through them, but you will also spend some time listening to the song before you decide if it’s for you. This is the nature of the beast. Music is a time-based phenomenon.

Unlike with videos where you can “time compress” a video into a single frame image that you can easily visually scan, with music there is no alternative format that represents the song that can be easily scanned, except for the song name. This explains why most music interfaces display playlists, with song names as text not unlike in a spreadsheet, or list of song names. These can be easily scanned, but have no direct correlation to the sound or feeling of the song itself. I have always found it odd that in this era of digital music and highly designed interfaces, that most players default to a spreadsheet of song names to present music – true of iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Rdio and many others. Spreadsheet music players.

Sure you can have a thumbnail of the album cover, but rarely do you see this on a song-by-song basis. Maybe in parts of Beatport or other DJ sites that are focused on tracks, but not generally on the web for the mass consumers of songs. And yes we have also seen many different visual interfaces like Sonorflow that let you visually traverse music genres or the linkage between bands, but these do not convey information about the songs themselves or the emotions that they convey.

What if we had a way to make a song come alive visually? This was the whole idea behind the original MTV and it was wildly successful for decades. What is the online equivalent, or even better, what can we do to push the whole boundary of music discovery and showcasing to new levels by embracing the time-based nature of music and coupling it with visual expression and a modern interface that lets you experience and interact with music in new and interesting ways. And no, I’m not talking about the waveform displays on Soundcloud.

I am working with a new company called Viinyl which is in the final testing stage for a whole new video-based version of their Music Showcasing platform that is very hot. I haven’t seen anything like Viinyl 2.0 and I think it represents a whole new way of presenting music. Viinyl amplifies the emotional content of songs visually, in a way that is enjoyable and super easy to use. This is a whole new way of showcasing music.

Viinyl is re-defining the way music and videos are experienced. In fact their video player is a new way to attract attention, engage an audience with the emotion of a song, and make money on singles and tracks. From a simple URL you can run a full screen video with interactive overlays and gather email, sell tracks and tickets, connect to your social networks and literally showcase music thru video. You can sell any digital file including music and movies, and provide relavent information directly in the context of the song including bios, links, credits, contacts, concert dates, lyrics, etc.

Here are some examples of the new Viinyl 2.0 in action:

http://hiphopdraft-ghost-in-the-machine.new.viinyl.com/

http://synthetica-mini-documentary.new.viinyl.com/

http://destination-brazil.new.viinyl.com/

http://idareyoubeta.new.viinyl.com/

The new platform supports audio file sales with fixed or flexible album pricing (minimum price and Pay What You Want) along with various free distribution options. The software is lightning fast, with just a few clicks, musicians and labels will be able to share their work independently – and hold onto all revenue generated.

The new Viinyl 2.0 LP format delivers a visual playlist, giving listeners and fans a far richer, more immersive and inviting music experience compared with the current spreadsheet format. This new software will be available in the coming weeks.

Please join me at the ADISQ conference in Montreal this week. I will be doing the afternoon keynote and speaking on “Go to Market Strategies for Musicians”, describing what is working in today’s environment and suggestions for the future.